Chao-Jun "C.-J." Li is E. B. Eddy Professor of Chemistry and Canada Research Chair in Green Chemistry at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

Montréal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

. He works on organic transformation applied to Green chemistry, including C-H activation, reactions in water and

photochemistry Photochemistry is the branch of chemistry concerned with the chemical effects of light. Generally, this term is used to describe a chemical reaction caused by absorption of ultraviolet (wavelength from 100 to 400 nm), visible light (400– ...

Education

C.-J. Li was born in 1963, and obtained his BSc from

Zhengzhou University Zhengzhou University (), colloquially known in Chinese as Zhèngdà () and abbreviated as ZZU is a public university located in Zhengzhou, Henan, China. Zhengzhou University is the largest university in China in terms of number of students (arou ...

(1979–1983), and completed his MSc. in organic synthesis at the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Repub ...

(1985–1988) with Prof. T.H. Chan. He then moved to McGill University (Montréal, Québec) to do his PhD (1989–1992) with Prof. T.H. Chan again (and discovered the

indium-mediated allylation Organoindium chemistry is the chemistry of compounds containing In-C bonds. The main application of organoindium chemistry is in the preparation of semiconducting components for microelectronic applications. The area is also of some interest in orga ...

reaction in water), along with Prof.

David Harpp David Noble Harpp is a Canadian chemist, science communicator and award-winning university teacher. He holds the Tomlinson Chair in Science Education at McGill University. Harpp published more than 230 chemistry articles in peer-reviewed public ...

(working on organosulfur/selenium/tellurium chemistry), and went on a

NSERC The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

-funded postdoc with Prof. Barry Trost at Stanford University in the United States (1992–1994) (and discovered the so-called phosphine-catalyzed γ-addition reaction).

Career and research

C.-J. Li started as an assistant professor at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pu ...

in 1994, and attained the title of Professor of Chemistry in 2000. He then moved in 2003 to McGill University, where he obtained a

Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...

(Tier I) in

Green Chemistry Green chemistry, also called sustainable chemistry, is an area of chemistry and chemical engineering focused on the design of products and processes that minimize or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. While environmental ch ...

. He has also been the director of

CREATE for Green Chemistry (2012–2018), the director of CFI Infrastructure for Green Chemistry and Green Chemicals (2008–2018) and has been the co-director of the FQRNT Center for Green Chemistry and Catalysis since 2009. C.-J. Li's research encompasses various aspects of green chemistry applied to organic chemistry:

organometallic Organometallic chemistry is the study of organometallic compounds, chemical compounds containing at least one chemical bond between a carbon atom of an organic molecule and a metal, including alkali, alkaline earth, and transition metals, and ...

catalysis Catalysis () is the process of increasing the rate of a chemical reaction by adding a substance known as a catalyst (). Catalysts are not consumed in the reaction and remain unchanged after it. If the reaction is rapid and the catalyst recycl ...

(thermal and light-based). Most notably, he is known for using water as a reaction media for various chemical reactions (

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate org ...

, Grignard type-reactions in water). Li originated the concepts of Aldehyde-Alkyne-Amine Coupling (

A3 coupling reaction The A3 coupling (also known as A3 coupling reaction or the aldehyde-alkyne-amine reaction), coined by Prof. Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of multicomponent reaction involving an aldehyde, an alkyne and an amine which react to give a p ...

) and the

cross dehydrogenative coupling Cross dehydrogenative coupling (also known as CDC reaction), coined by Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of coupling reaction allowing the construction of a carbon–carbon bond or C-Heteroatom bond directly from C-H bonds in the presen ...

(CDC Reaction, or C-H/C-H coupling, or oxidative C-H cross coupling). His work on GaN

nanowires A nanowire is a nanostructure in the form of a wire with the diameter of the order of a nanometre (10−9 metres). More generally, nanowires can be defined as structures that have a thickness or diameter constrained to tens of nanometers or less ...

photocatalyst In chemistry, photocatalysis is the acceleration of a photoreaction in the presence of a catalyst. In catalyzed photolysis, light is absorbed by an adsorbed substrate. In photogenerated catalysis, the photocatalytic activity depends on the abil ...

s for the conversion of

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ear ...

into

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen ato ...

was covered by Phys.org in 2015, leaving prospects for

hydrogen storage Hydrogen storage can be accomplished by several existing methods of holding hydrogen for later use. These include mechanical approaches such as using high pressures and low temperatures, or employing chemical compounds that release H2 upon demand ...

. Subsequently, his team showed that they were also able to convert methanol into

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a h ...

. He also made breakthroughs in using

hydrazone Hydrazones are a class of organic compounds with the structure . They are related to ketones and aldehydes by the replacement of the oxygen =O with the = functional group. They are formed usually by the action of hydrazine on ketones or aldehydes. ...

s as organometallic surrogates in nucleophilic addition and cross-coupling, the direct amination of phenol derivatives. and the fluorescence enhancement due to self-assembling in solution.

Selected publications

Reactions in water: * The Barbier–Grignard-type arylation of aldehydes using unactivated aryl iodides in water * Silver‐Catalyzed Hydrogenation of Aldehydes in Water

Cross dehydrogenative coupling Cross dehydrogenative coupling (also known as CDC reaction), coined by Chao-Jun Li of McGill University, is a type of coupling reaction allowing the construction of a carbon–carbon bond or C-Heteroatom bond directly from C-H bonds in the presen ...

GaN photocatalysts * Photoinduced Conversion of Methane into Benzene over GaN Nanowires * Direct Catalytic Methanol-to-Ethanol Photoconversion via Methyl Carbene

Hydrazones Hydrazones are a class of organic compounds with the structure . They are related to ketones and aldehydes by the replacement of the oxygen =O with the = functional group. They are formed usually by the action of hydrazine on ketones or aldehydes. ...

as organometallic reagents surrogates: * Carbonyls as alkyl carbanion equivalents for 1,2-nucleophilic additions, conjugate additions, and cross-couplings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Chao-Jun Stanford University alumni Canadian people of Chinese descent Academic staff of McGill University Organic chemists Zhengzhou University alumni 1963 births Living people